Growth in inflation-adjusted earnings, 1979-2004

Growth in earnings for white women has outpaced that for their black and Hispanic or Latino counterparts over the past 25 years.

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Between 1979 and 2004, inflation-adjusted weekly earnings for white women grew fairly steadily, from $444 to $584 (32 percent). Earnings over the period grew from $408 to $505 (24 percent) for black women and from $379 to $419 (11 percent) for Hispanic or Latino women.

In contrast, real earnings for white and for black men rose only slightly, while those for Hispanic or Latino men fell by 9 percent.

These data on earnings are produced by the Current Population Survey. Earnings data in this article are median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers. The Consumer Price Index research series using current methods (CPI-U-RS) was used for the inflation adjustment; the inflation-adjusted earnings are in 2004 dollars. For more information see "Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2004," BLS Report 987 (PDF 196K).